Results

We found that the Glomex AIS antenna didn’t have the standard PL259 connecting plug required to connect to the main radio set, so this was our first object lesson. If you have an AIS antenna and want to deploy it as a main VHF radio antenna, check its connector and, if necessary, have an adaptor on board. The other thing we found interesting was that transmission from the emergency antennas was better than their ability to receive. In our test at 4NM, the reception from all the emergency antennas was either very good (Pacific) or good (the remainder), so their transmission range was greater than their reception range. In theory, the transmission and reception strengths should be the same. The difference was probably due to electronic equipment, including the engine on Trinity Star, creating background noise which affected their reception. Another factor was the position of the emergency antenna. We found that having some boat superstructure between the emergency antenna and the other (masthead) antenna predictably weakened the signal.